World COPD Day – 15 November 2023
Unfortunately COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) is still a relatively unknown respiratory condition, writes Dr Nicola Roberts, Associate Professor.
One of the key purposes of #WorldCOPDday on the 15th of November is to increase awareness for everyone. A lot of the general public still don’t know what COPD and other respiratory conditions are, hence the continued need for health promotion around respiratory conditions.
People still often ignore respiratory symptoms of breathlessness and/or cough for a long time and there has been some recently highlighted difficulties in getting diagnostic tests. A small group of interested people including a patient, researchers and health professionals have written a blog for Evidence Based Nursing to showcase COPD to help highlight this condition (available from the 12th of November at https://blogs.bmj.com/ebn/), as part of a much larger campaign on #WorldCOPDday linking in with colleagues worldwide to raise awareness and promote the effectiveness of physical activity for those with respiratory conditions.
We are looking for people to take part recording their physical activity and helping us promote #WorldCOPDday on social media.
This year, World COPD Day will be marked by an inaugural global event involving a virtual baton pass. The Big Baton Pass intends to profile the importance of getting a respiratory diagnosis as well as raising the awareness of COPD in the general public and the importance of being active when living with COPD. More information about the awareness campaign is available via the weblink: https://copdbigbatonpass.wordpress.com/.
The link to join the live broadcast to hear the presentations, and to join in live with activities, will be available via our webpage on World COPD Day:
https://copdbigbatonpass.wordpress.com/programme-and-link-to-live-event/.
If you do get involved, please tweet (#WorldCOPDDayBatonPass) with a picture, or go to our webpage https://copdbigbatonpass.wordpress.com/ and send a photo via the contact us section, and add our event logo to your promotional materials.
We cannot wait to hear about you have done, who has been involved, and your reasons for getting involved.
Dr Nicola Roberts
Associate Professor, School of Health and Social Care, Edinburgh Napier University N.Roberts@napier.ac.uk
Dr Nicola Roberts is an Associate Professor within the School of Health and Social Care. She is a health services researcher with an interest in the delivery of respiratory care.